Dreamers
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Christi and Ariadne have been best friends for years. So Christi knows something is up when she acts strange after a mysterious meeting with a guy at her school. She encourages her friend to go ahead and do whatever it is she's needed for. What Christi doesn't plan on is getting thrown unwillingly into the midst of the dream world where nothing is as it seems. EamesxOC
1. Mystery Job

**Thanks again to my friend, Will Cloud, for making the cover photo.**

 **Christi is loosely based on my best friend who knew I was a writer and direly wanted to be a character in one of my stories :)**

* * *

"Do you think he was flirting, or was it just me?" Christi asked Ariadne as they walked down the hall of her school together.

"He flirts with everyone," Ariadne answered. "Believe me, you're no different."

Christi and Ariadne lived in an apartment together, having met and been best friends since they were roommates their freshman year of college. Now both of them were studying abroad in France for graduate school. Ariadne was studying architecture, while Christi was a nursing student. They went to separate schools, so occasionally, they would meet up for lunch, much like they had just finished doing.

"Ariadne!" someone called.

The two girls looked over to find one of Ariadne's professors motioning her over while a much younger man stood next to him.

"I have to go," Ariadne said to Christi. "I'll see you back at the apartment tonight."

"Alright." Christi discreetly pointed to the younger man. "He's cute!"

Ariadne rolled her eyes while Christi laughed and headed out to go back to her next couple of nursing classes.

When she finished classes for the day, she went back to the apartment and took out a few of her textbooks. After doing some of her homework for a couple hours, her brain was swimming from the endless terminology and diagrams, so she prepared to go for a run. She dressed in some running shorts with a t-shirt and tied her hair up into a messy bun.

Christi loved to run more than anything. She felt like all her problems went away while she was running, and she had the best place in the world to run around in. Paris was gorgeous and full of amazing scenery that she got to see almost every day when she ran past it. Most of the time, she brought her I-Pod with her to run to, but every now and again, she would run to the music of nature and the good old Paris everyday life.

When the sky began to get darker, she headed back for the apartment. Ariadne was sitting at the table eating some leftovers from the night before. She looked kind of upset and was stabbing her food with a viciousness that Christi had never seen from her before.

"Hey, Ari!" Christi said. "So what did that professor want? Did it have something to do with the cute guy?"

"I'm not really supposed to say anything," Ariadne responded without looking at her. "But it doesn't matter because I'm not doing what he needed."

"What are you talking about? Was it an internship, a work placement, what?"

"I told you, it doesn't matter. I'm not doing it."

"Whatever it was couldn't have been that bad."

"You have no idea."

"No, I don't. So why don't you tell me?"

"I can't."

Ariadne suddenly got up and left and went to her room for the rest of the night, leaving Christi standing in the dining room extremely confused. She'd never seen Ariadne act like that before. What had happened that was making her behave so weird?

The next morning, Ariadne ate breakfast in silence before heading off to her classes. Christi didn't know what had happened the day before, but whatever it was was really affecting her.

She went to her own room and dressed in her usual jeans, casual shirt, and a pair of black Converse. Then she brushed out her straight black hair that reached to the middle of her back. After putting on a little mascara, she grabbed her books and headed off to classes, hoping that Ariadne was in a better mood when she got back.

She wasn't.

When Christi came back from her daily run, Ariadne was eating and doing some homework on the dining room table. She didn't look as angry, but she didn't look happy either. She had barely eaten anything as her fork just moved around the food on her plate, and she looked like she was staring right through her textbook.

"Ari, what's up?" Christi asked, concerned for her friend.

"Nothing," Ariadne replied.

"Are you sure? You look kind of upset."

"I'm fine, okay? Just…drop it."

Ariadne once again retreated to her room for some silence. Christi looked after her sadly. She had no idea what had happened the day before, but obviously it had really messed with her emotions.

Things stayed that way for the next couple of days. Ariadne hardly ever spoke to her anymore and constantly locked herself in her room doing who-knows-what. Christi really missed her best friend. Finally, she decided to do something about it.

Early in the morning before either girl had left for classes, Christi sat across from Ariadne while she ate her breakfast.

"Okay, Ari, I don't know what's been going on with you, but whatever it is needs to stop."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ever since you met that cute guy at your school, you've been acting like the end of the world is coming. Now I don't know everything because you won't tell me, but something happened to you that day. And even though you said you didn't want to do whatever it was he wanted, I think you secretly do. Otherwise you wouldn't be acting like this."

"You don't understand what they wanted."

"Maybe not, but what I do understand is that it's really affected you. Go back to that guy and do whatever it is he wanted. I have a feeling it would really improve your mood."

Ariadne stared into space for a little bit, thinking about what Christi was saying. "You really think I should go back?"

"Not just should. I think you want to. So do it."

Ariadne smiled and stood up. "You're right. I'll go see him again today."

Christi smiled back and went to go get dressed.

"Hey, Christi?" Ariadne called as she prepared to walk out the door. Christi turned back to her. "Thanks."

* * *

When Christi returned from her run, Ariadne looked a lot happier than she had for the past few days.

"I take it everything went well?" Christi asked with a smile on her face.

Ariadne smiled back. "You were right. I kind of have a better idea of what I'm supposed to be doing now, and it may not be as bad as I initially thought."

"I told you. Christi once again saves the day."

"Don't push it."

Christi smiled broadly. "So, what exactly is it they want you to do?"

"Sorry. Still sworn to silence, especially now that I'm actually doing the job."

Christi groaned playfully. "After all the help I did and everything."

The two girls laughed and went to their rooms to do homework.

For the next few days, Ariadne spent a lot of time in the apartment drawing and sketching and even creating little models of what looked like floor plans. That only made Christi more curious about this what this mysterious job could possibly be.

From what Christi saw, Ariadne hardly ever slept. She wasn't sure how that could possibly be healthy, but it must've been a result of whatever she was doing with her time as of late.

Things went this way for approximately two weeks if not a little longer. Every time Christi asked what she was up to, all she got was the same answer: sworn to secrecy.

Despite the fact that Ariadne was in a much better mood than before, she was now too busy to spend time with Christi. She really missed the girl she called her best friend. They hardly ever talked anymore because she was always working at or for the mystery job. She missed studying with her and going out to eat occasionally and their movie marathons and all their late night talks. But she knew she couldn't complain because she was the one who had told her to go back in the first place.


	2. Abducted

As Ariadne and the rest of the team prepared for the Fischer project and packed up everything for the flight, nerves were running wild from every single person. There was a lot riding on this job, especially for Cobb. It was almost too much pressure to handle. But they forced themselves to focus and just get the job done right.

Ariadne's cell phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was Christi who was calling her. "Hey, Christi, I can't really talk right now. I'm…working."

"Ari?" the quiet, shaky voice of her friend said on the other end.

"Are…are you okay? You sound like you're crying."

"I—I've been taken."

"What are you talking about?" She put the phone on speaker. "Cobb, listen to this," she said to the blonde man. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the back of a van."

"Who took you?"

"I don't know. There's two men. I keep hearing the word…Cobol."

Every single one of the team members' eyes widened as they all frantically looked at one another.

"Do you know exactly where you are?"

"No."

"Hey, she's got a phone!" a man's voice yelled in the background. There was the sound of banging and another man shouting things over Christi's screams. Then the line went dead.

The silence in the room was deafening.

"Who was that?" Cobb asked.

"My best friend, Christi," Ariadne answered, small tears pooling in her eyes. "We've been roommates since our freshman year of college." By the looks on all of the men's faces, she could tell they knew something she didn't. "What is it?" she demanded. "Do you know who took her?"

Arthur sighed. "It was our last job. Cobol hired us to extract information from Saito's mind. We failed, and now they have a bounty out on us, specifically Cobb."

"What do they want with Christi?"

"My only guess is to lure him out into the open."

"What are they going to do to her if he doesn't show?"

The silence that followed gave her her unwanted answer.

"We've got to get her," Eames stated. "We are not leaving her at the mercy of Cobol when she had nothing to do with any of this in the first place."

Cobb sighed and pressed his hand to his temple. As much as he wanted to disagree, he knew Eames was right. Who knew what would happen to that poor girl if they left her with Cobol? They had already proven that they were willing to kidnap her. He didn't want to think about what they'd do next.

"Okay," Cobb finally said. "We've got a few hours before we're supposed to be on the flight. We'll go in, get the girl, and get out. After that…we'll make it up as we go. That's what we do all the time anyway."

Ariadne breathed a small sigh of relief that he wasn't going to leave Christi with those men, but she was still beyond worried about what would happen to her until they got there.

"Arthur," Cobb said, "trace where that phone call came from and find out her location. Ariadne and Eames, you'll be with me. And the rest of you, finish packing everything up and get on the plane. We'll be there before it takes off." He looked over at Ariadne. "Let's go get her."

Cobb, Arthur, and Ariadne ran to the car and got Arthur on Ariadne's cell phone as he gave them directions to where he had traced the phone.

They ended up at a warehouse that looked just as intimidating on the inside as it did on the outside.

Cobb motioned for Ariadne to stay and keep watch, then motioned for Eames to go one way while he went the other to look for Christi. The two men wandered around, being very careful not to be seen by any Cobol agents.

Finally, Eames found the girl. Her arms and legs were tied to a chair, and her head was slumped forward, resting on her chest. "Cobb!" he called as quietly as he could. Eames ran over to Christi and examined her face and eyes. "She's been sedated," he confirmed.

They heard voices not far from where they were, and correctly assumed that it was the two Cobol agents who had taken her.

Eames proceeded to quickly untie her bindings and frowned at the red lines that were left behind on her wrists from the ropes. It wasn't fair that she had been brought into this in such a harsh way.

After finally freeing her, he slipped his hands under her legs and around her waist and hefted her up into his arms. Her arm went around his neck while her head rested against his chest. She felt so…fragile.

"Let's get out of here," Cobb whispered firmly. "Now."

Cobb and Eames quietly raced back to the car where Ariadne stood, anxiously awaiting their return.

"Is she okay?!" she panicked at the sight of her unconscious friend.

"She's fine," Eames told her. "Just knocked out."

He gently placed Christi in the back of the car with Ariadne and then ran into the passenger seat.

Suddenly, gunshots fired at them and threatened to burst through the windshield. Cobb took off as fast as he could to get away from the shots.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Cobb asked.

"Well we can't bloody well leave her here, now can we?" Eames responded. "They'll recapture her as soon as we leave."

"We can't just get her on the plane."

"Why not? We've already bought out the cabin and the flight attendant, and Saito owns the whole bloody airline. We shouldn't have a problem sneaking her on."

Cobb sighed again. This was not going according to plan. But once again, Eames was right. They couldn't leave this girl here when Cobol was still lurking around.

Seeing no other option, he drove to the airport where the rest of the team would be. On the way, he called Arthur and told him of the unexpected addition to their plans. Arthur wasn't happy, but he agreed that they didn't have much of a choice.

The four of them rushed to the airport with Christi in tow.

"Shouldn't she be awake by now?" Ariadne asked as they arrived with Christi still unconscious.

"The sedatives they gave her are still trying to ease their way out of her system. It shouldn't be much longer," Cobb explained.

"How are we going to get her on the plane?"

"Arthur's talked it over with the flight attendant and, after giving her extra money, convinced her to let us get her on the plane. Once everyone's boarded, Arthur will get her on by the stairs, rather than using the jet bridge. That way, we can still hide her from Fischer and the rest of the passengers."

Arthur met them outside and drove around to the airstrip where their plane was waiting while Cobb, Ariadne, and Eames went inside the airport to board. He parked their car and waited for the sign from their flight attendant.

Arthur never liked getting a stranger to help them with their dream-sharing. A necessity, he knew, but it didn't change the fact that it made him nervous to think that one word from any of them could get the whole team arrested.

Once everyone on the plane boarded, the flight attendant showed her face and that's when Arthur knew it was time. As if their job wasn't illegal enough, they were now sneaking someone onto a plane. This had not been part of the plan when he went to college.

Arthur picked up Christi and carried her aboard the plane. He didn't miss the nervous look on the flight attendant's face, and he didn't blame her one bit. If she got caught helping them, her whole job was in jeopardy, and maybe more than that.

But again, it was a necessity.

With the curtain closed, he set Christi down on the floor of the plane, separated from everyone else. Cobb, Ariadne, and Eames joined Arthur to make sure that they had both gotten on safely.

"She should be waking up at any minute," Arthur told them.

As if on cue, Christi stirred a little and her eyes began to flutter open as her foggy mind started to clear. Taking one look around her, she gasped as she quickly sat up. That wasn't her best decision because sitting up so fast made her head start to ache.

"Christi!" Ariadne exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Ari?" Christi said, trying to put the image of her friend into focus. "What's going on? Who are all you people? What are you doing to me?!"

"Shh!" Ariadne shushed. The last thing they needed was Fischer coming back here and questioning what they were all doing.

"Don't tell me to be quiet! I want to know what the heck is happening right now! Who took me? Are you all working with them?"

"Christi is it?" Cobb said as Ariadne helped her stand up. Still trying to regain her balance, Ariadne had to put her hands on her to keep her from falling. "First of all, we're the good guys. We saved you from the Cobol agents." He handed her a glass of water. "Here, drink this. It might help you feel better."

Christi looked at him suspiciously. He hadn't given her any reason to trust him…but Ariadne seemed to, and the water was really tempting. If this guy did save her, he wouldn't poison the liquid, would he?

She slowly took the glass and drank a few sips. It felt nice on her parched throat.

"I'd like to apologize in advance," Cobb continued.

"What are you talking about?" Christi asked. Suddenly, the images around her started to go fuzzy once more. She fiercely blinked her eyes over and over again to help her stay awake, but she just couldn't keep them open. She looked down at the glass in her hand. "What did you do?" she asked softly.

"Don't worry, darling," the man behind her said. "You're going to be alright."

The last thing she remembered was falling into someone's protective arms.

* * *

Eames caught Christi as she fell back into his embrace, the drug Cobb had given her taking effect. "Now what?" he asked.

"I guess…we take her with us," Cobb said.

"You mean into the dream world?"

"I don't want to, but I'd rather have her with us down there where I can keep an eye on her. I don't want to risk her waking up and ruining everything for us."

"Do you have enough of the sedative to have her with us?" Arthur asked Cobb.

"I asked Yusuf to bring a spare just in case. Apparently, it's a good thing I did."

"Well," Eames mumbled. "Welcome aboard, Christi."

Eames quietly brought Christi out to the cabin while Fischer wasn't looking and secured her into one of the open seats. Then the rest of the team buckled themselves in, and the plane took off.

Cobb's foot bounced up and down in nervous anticipation. He kept sneaking glances over at Christi, each time relieved to find her still knocked out. He had given her a pretty powerful drug, and it helped that she had just been sedated. She probably would stay asleep for the whole flight anyway, but he didn't want to risk it.

His eyes were glued to the lit signs above him. As soon as the one reading "Fasten Seat Belt" went off, he made his move.

"Excuse me?" he said, reaching forward to the man in front of him. The man who knew absolutely nothing about them when they knew everything about him. "I think this is yours. You must've dropped it." He handed Fischer his passport that Eames had previously swiped for him as an excuse to talk to him.

"Would you gentlemen care for a drink?" the flight attendant asked politely.

"Water, please," Cobb told her.

"Oh, um, same, please," Fischer said. He turned to Cobb and gave him a thin smile. "Um, thank you."

"You know, I couldn't help but notice, but you wouldn't happen to be related to _the_ Maurice Fischer, would you?"

"Yes, he, um…he was my father."

"Well, he was a very inspiring figure. I'm sorry for your loss."

The flight attendant quickly held the two glasses in front of Cobb and he poured the same drug he had given Christi into Fischer's glass.

"Here you go," he said as he handed the man his water. "Hey. To your father. May he rest in peace."

They took a couple sips from their glasses. Cobb did not miss the hard look on Robert's face. If they did this right, and the catharsis was powerful enough, this just might work.

It hardly took any time before Robert was knocked

out on his seat. Cobb shook him a little to make sure he was fully under, and the fact that he made no movement confirmed his assumptions.

The team members grabbed their individual wires and hooked themselves up to the PASIV device. Eames grabbed an additional wire and attached it to Christi's arm. He looked at her for a second.

She was just…so beautiful. Her luscious black hair was gracing her flawless pale skin. She looked so calm and easy, unlike the few minutes where he saw her awake, but he didn't blame her for that. Considering the circumstances, it was a fairly reasonable reaction. No doubt she felt uncomfortable with this whole situation, not to mention she was still completely clueless about everything going on around her and why she was involved.

He forced himself out of his daze and got himself hooked up to the machine before sitting down.

The flight attendant pushed the button on the PASIV, and they all entered the dream.


	3. The Plan Goes Wrong

The next thing Christi knew, she was standing outside in pouring rain. A red car pulled up on the sidewalk.

"Come on," a man said to her. He gently took her arm and led her to the car.

"I don't even know you," she said, wrenching her arm out of his grasp. "Why would I come with you?"

"Believe me, you'll be safer if you do."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because we know your friend, Ariadne. And she's going to want to have you with us."

"You know where Ari is?"

"You'll see her soon. Just come with us for now."

Every muscle inside of her screamed for her not to, but this guy looked trustworthy enough. Besides, he had a lovely British accent, and he looked absolutely gorgeous. And there was something about his voice that seemed kind of familiar. So against her better judgment, she decided to follow him.

She squeezed into the back of the car with three other men while the man she had spoken with got into the passenger seat.

"Couldn't have peed before you went under?" one of the men asked another.

"Sorry," the second man replied.

"Bit too much free champagne before takeoff, huh, Yusuf?" the man in the passenger seat threw back.

"Ha ha bloody ha."

"We know he's gonna be looking for a taxi in this weather," the man driving said as he looked up at the rain.

"What are you all talking about?" Christi asked.

"We'll explain in a minute."

"I know you," she said to the man as he drove forward. "You're that man Ari met with. The one who gave her some job she couldn't tell me about."

"The one and only."

Christi was beyond confused by now, but by the looks of it, it was the wrong time to try to figure out what they were doing.

The blonde man drove into the back of a cab which caused both cars to quickly stop. The cab driver got out of his car and started heading towards theirs.

"Hey, man! Why don't you try—"

He stopped talking when he saw that the driver had a gun. "Walk away," the blonde man demanded.

Two of the men in the back got out of the car and went inside the now vacant taxi.

Meanwhile, the red car followed the taxi's path to wherever it was they were going.

"Alright, here's the short version," the blonde man said to Christi. "My name's Dom Cobb, those two in the taxi are Arthur and Saito, the one next to you is Yusuf, and this guy is Eames. Our job is to go inside people's minds while they're asleep and extract information. Only this time, we're putting information there."

"Wait a second, we're asleep?"

"Yes."

"That's not possible."

"Oh, really? How did you get here, Christi?"

"Well, I just came…I…"

"Exactly. I asked Ariadne to work with us, and because this isn't exactly legal, that's why she couldn't tell you about it. Her job is to design the layout of the dream. You were kidnapped by people from Cobol who are after me for a failed extraction. We took you with us to keep you safe from them. All of us are actually sitting on a plane hooked up to a device called a PASIV. Right now, we're trying to find Robert Fischer and convince him to break up his father's company. It's called Inception."

"This is crazy," Christi mumbled.

"We've all been there."

The taxi stopped and Eames got out and opened Christi's door for her. "Stick with me, darling," he said with a small smile. Still confused, she obliged his request, because what else could she do? They both ran to the taxi and slid inside where another man, who she assumed was Fischer, was sitting.

"What're you doing?" Fischer cried as the man and woman slid in next to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we thought it was free," Eames said.

"Well, it's not."

Well, Fischer certainly wasn't very polite.

"Maybe we could share."

"Maybe not. Can you pull over and get this—"

He looked up and Saito pointed a gun at him.

"Great," he murmured.

"What are you doing?" Christi frantically asked Eames.

"It's all part of the plan, love. Trust me."

"You're making it pretty hard for me to do that."

Fischer pulled out his wallet and tossed it to Eames. "There's 500 dollars in there. And the wallet's worth more than that. So you might at least drop me at my stop."

Eames smiled at little. "I'm afraid that it doesn't—"

Gunshots suddenly pierced the window, and Arthur was forced to stop the taxi. His head whipped around, examining his surroundings, and he knew that nothing good could come from all the black vans that had decided to corner them.

"COVER THEM!" he screamed to Eames.

"Get down!" Eames shouted to Christi. She ducked her head as Eames covered Robert's head with a burlap sack. Eames then shot out the rear window at the shooters, occasionally taking a look at Christi to make sure she was still with them. As Arthur skidded the taxi all over the place to avoid the shooters, Eames got down and used his body to shield Christi's. But she couldn't understand why. Why was he being so protective of her?

"Get him!" Arthur yelled.

Eames shot up and hit the shooter Arthur had trapped between the taxi and another vehicle.

"Are you alright?" Arthur called back.

"Yeah, I'm alright, I'm okay," Eames breathed. "Fischer's okay, unless he gets carsick."

"Saito?"

The Asian man put his hand to his chest where blood was beginning to soak his shirt. He had been hit.

Eames helped Christi up onto the seat again. "Are you alright?"

Christi looked at him incredulously. "You are all insane!"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Arthur and Cobb drove their cars to a warehouse for them to set up everything. Eames hopped out and opened it up so the cars could pull in.

"Ari?" Christi cried as she ran up to her friend.

"Christi!" Ariadne exclaimed, hugging her. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Get Fischer in the back room now!" Cobb ordered as he yanked the man out of the back of the cab. "Get him in the back room! Move!"

Yusuf grabbed Fischer and left with him while Arthur pulled Saito out of the front seat.

"What happened?" Arthur asked frantically.

"Has he been shot? Is he dying?" Cobb asked as he knelt down.

"I don't know. Where were you? What happened to you?"

"We were blocked by a freight train."

Arthur looked at Ariadne. "Why would you put a train crossing in the middle of a downtown intersection?"

"I didn't," Ariadne protested.

"Well, where'd it come from?"

"Well, let me ask you a question!" Cobb snapped. "Why were we ambushed, huh?! Those were not normal projections. They'd been trained!"

"You're right," Arthur admitted.

"How could he be trained?" Ariadne asked in disbelief.

"Fischer's had an extractor teach his subconscious to defend itself, so his subconscious is militarized. It should've shown in the research. I'm sorry."

"So why didn't it?!" Cobb furiously demanded.

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down! This was your job! This was your responsibility! You were meant to check Fischer's background thoroughly! We are not prepared for this type of violence!"

"We have dealt with sub-security before. We'll be a little more careful and we're gonna be fine!"

"This was not a part of the plan! He's _dying_!"

Eames walked up and joined them. "So we put him out of his misery." He held up a gun and prepared to shoot Saito.

"No, no! Don't do that!" Cobb exclaimed as he pinned Eames to the cab.

"Cobb, hey, hey!"

"Don't do that."

"He's in agony, I'm waking him up."

"No, it won't wake him up."

"What do you mean, it won't wake him up?"

"It won't wake him up."

"When we die in a dream, we wake up."

"Not from this," Yusuf intervened. "We're too heavily sedated to wake up that way."

"Right. So, what happens when we die?"

"We drop into limbo," Cobb admitted.

"Are you serious?" Arthur exclaimed.

"Limbo?" Ariadne asked.

"Unconstructed dream space."

"Well, what's down there?"

"Just raw infinite subconscious. Nothing is down there. Except for whatever might have been left behind by anyone sharing the dream who has been trapped there before. Which, in our case, is just you."

"Well, how long could we be stuck there?"

Yusuf started nervously stammering, "Can't even think about trying to escape until the sedation is—"

"How long, Yusuf?" Eames interjected.

"Decades! It could be infinite! I don't know, ask him! He's the one who's been there!"

"You people are all lunatics!" Christi screamed. "Complete lunatics!" She turned to look at Ariadne. "How can you possibly be okay with all of this?!"

"I didn't know this was going to happen!" she defended herself. "And besides, you encouraged me to go back!"

"I didn't realize this was what you were doing!"

"Christi, you've got to calm down," Arthur told her.

"How am I supposed to calm down when I've been forced into this whole thing completely against my will?! You are all crazy!"

Suddenly, everyone looked at her as if she had grown a third eye. She looked down at her hands, and saw that they were not her own.

"How did you do that?" Eames asked.

"Do what?"

"You changed your appearance. You're a whole new person."

Christi looked at her hair which was now a blonde color and she was wearing a knee-length green dress. She looked back up at everyone. "I've been doing this ever since I can remember. I can't control my dreams, but for years, I've changed what I look like without being able to control it. I thought it meant nothing."

"You're a forger."

"What the heck is a forger?"

"You can change your appearance in a dream. That's my job in this plan. And it's very difficult, but you're a natural."

Christi then changed back into her normal self. The team realized that she must change during situations of high distress and then change back when she felt normal again.

"Just get him upstairs," Arthur finally said, referring to Saito. He and Yusuf gently lifted him up and led him away.

"Great," Eames said sharply to Cobb. "Thank you. So, now we're trapped in Fischer's mind battling his own private army, and if we get killed, we'll be lost in limbo until our brains turn to scrambled egg, hmm?"

Cobb said nothing before they all went to go join the others as they lifted Saito up onto a table.


	4. Explanations

"You got First Aid?" Arthur asked.

"I'm a nurse," Christi interjected. "Let me do it."

"You're a nurse?"

"Well…training to be one." Christi got the first-aid kit and quickly began working on Saito's wound. She slipped on some gloves, then carefully opened his shirt so she could better access the site where he had gotten shot. Then she took some gauze and adhesive tape and carefully put the gauze overtop of the hole. "Mr. Saito," she said calmly. "I need you to take a deep breath and then exhale, and then hold it for me, okay?"

Saito weakly nodded before painfully exhaling. Christi quickly sealed the wound, leaving the bottom corner slightly open for oxygen to leave.

As Christi continued working on Saito's wound, she listened to the heated conversation going on behind her.

Arthur turned to Cobb. "So you knew about these risks and you didn't tell us?"

"There weren't meant to be any risks. I didn't know we'd be dealing with a load of gunfire," Cobb shot back.

"You had no right."

"It was the only way to go three layers deep."

Arthur looked at Yusuf hardly. "And you, you knew about this and went along with it?"

"I trusted him," Yusef responded sheepishly.

"You trusted him. When? When he promised you half his share?"

"No…his whole share. Besides, he said he's done it before."

"He's done it before, what, with Mal? 'Cause that worked so good?"

"That has nothing to do with it. I did what I had to do to get back to my children," Cobb said.

"So you lead us into a war zone with no way out," Eames said dryly.

"There is a way out. Alright, we continue on with the job and we do it as fast as possible, and we get out using the kick, just like before."

"What are they talking about?" Christi asked Ariadne.

"Believe me, it's complicated," the girl answered.

"Forget it," Eames said, walking away and sitting on a chair. "We go any deeper, we just raise the stakes. I am sitting this one out on this level, boys."

"Fischer's security is surrounding this place as we speak," Cobb explained. "Ten hours of flight time is a week at this level. That means each and every one of us will be killed. That I can guarantee you. We have no other choice but to continue on and do it as fast as possible." He reached down and grabbed a couple of masks. "Downwards is the only way forward." He looked at Eames. "Get ready." Then he looked at Arthur and tossed him a mask. "You, come on, let's go shake him up."

Cobb and Arthur put the masks on and went to go talk to Fischer to see if they could get him to tell them whatever it was they needed to know.

"Okay," Christi said to Ariadne as she continued to work on Saito's wound. "Give me the lowdown on what the heck is going on here. Cobb only gave me the general idea."

"Alright," Ariadne started. "Saito needs us to make this guy, Robert Fischer, break up his father's empire. To do that, we have to plant the idea in his head by helping him attain catharsis with his father. The only way to do that is to go three layers deep."

"Layers? You mean like a dream within a dream within a dream?"

"Right. We get out of each layer by using what's called a kick. It's the feeling you get when you're falling in your sleep and you jolt in bed and wake up. Without that, we could be trapped for a while. The only reason Cobb is doing this in the first place is because Saito promised him that if the job got done, he would help Cobb get back to his kids. He can't see them right now because everyone believes he killed his wife, Mal. As far as the actual dreams go, those people who attacked us are Fischer's projections, or the people populating his mind. They've been trained to fight people like us, and that's why we're in danger."

"Now it all makes sense," Christi murmured. "Why you were always busy, the late nights, and I certainly see why you were so upset after that first meeting with Cobb."

"It was a lot to take in. I'm sorry you got thrown into all this. I didn't mean for you to get involved."

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

"Hey, Christi, come here," Eames called.

Christi turned to Ariadne. "Keep pressure on this for me."

Ariadne put her hands on the wound that had been fixed up to the best of the future nurse's ability while Christi went over to where Eames was setting up a little desk with a mirror attached to it.

"I'm going to show you how a forger really does it," Eames said to her.

"500 dollars, this cost," Yusuf said, referring to Fischer's wallet.

"What's inside it?"

"Cash, cards, ID, and this." He took out a picture and handed it to Eames who showed it to Christi. It was a picture of a little boy with his father as they looked at a handmade pinwheel with little numbers sprinkled on the edges of it.

"Useful?" Eames asked as he handed the card to Cobb who had come back into the room.

"Maybe," Cobb mumbled. "You're on. You've got an hour."

"An hour? I was supposed to have all night to crack this."

"And Saito wasn't supposed to be shot in the chest. You've got one hour, now get  
us something useful, please."

Christi watched in amazement as Eames concentrated into the mirror, and his appearance changed before her very eyes into an older man. To see it happen to someone else, knowing that it was possible to control it, was admittedly amazing.

Eames started crying out, pretending to be tortured.

"Who did you change into?" Christi asked him.

"Fischer's godfather, Browning. Had to become someone he trusted."

Cobb took him by the arm and Eames/Browning tossed a wink to Christi as he was led to the room Fischer was in.

She went back over to Ariadne and resumed taking care of Saito's wound. At this point, all she could do was keep pressure on it to keep him from losing too much blood.

"What did Eames want?" Ariadne asked.

"He showed me how he does his job. Forges, he said it was."

Ariadne raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. If she didn't know any better, she'd say Eames had a thing for her best friend.


	5. Cobb's Story

"How's he doing?" Cobb asked as he came over to them.

"He's in a lot of pain," Ariadne answered.

"When we get down to the lower levels, the pain will be less intense."

"And if he dies?"

"Worst case scenario? When he wakes up, his mind is completely gone."

"Cobb," Saito mustered out. "I will still honor the arrangement."

"I appreciate that, Saito. But when you wake up, you won't even remember that we had an arrangement. Limbo is gonna become your reality. You're gonna be lost down there so long that you're gonna become an old man."

"Filled with regret?"

"Waiting to die alone."

"No. I'll come back. And we'll be young men together again." He started gasping as a wave of pain swept through him.

"Mr. Saito, look at me," Christi ordered gently. "Look at me. Take some deep breaths, okay? Breathe with me. In, out. In, out." She helped him breathe, but it was obvious he was really hurting and she could only do so much for him with her limited supplies.

"When were you in limbo?" Ariadne asked Cobb. When he didn't answer, she said firmly, "You might have the rest of the team convinced to carry on with this job, but they don't know the truth."

"Truth? What truth?" Cobb asked.

"The truth that at any minute, you might bring a freight train through the wall. The truth that Mal is bursting through your subconscious. And the truth that as we go deeper into Fischer, we're also going deeper into you. And I'm not sure we're gonna like what we find."

Cobb took a deep breath, and then started, "We were working together. We were exploring the concept of a dream within a dream. I kept pushing things. I wanted to go deeper and deeper. I wanted to go further. I just didn't understand the concept that hours could turn into years down there. That we could get trapped so deep that when we wound up on the shore of our subconscious, we lost sight of what was real. We created. We built the world for ourselves. We did that for years. We built our own world."

"How long were you stuck there?"

"Something like fifty years."

Christi kept pressure on Saito's wound, but she looked up at Cobb at that statement. Apparently, there was more to him than what she saw at first glance.

"How could you stand it?" Ariadne asked him.

"It wasn't so bad at first," he continued. "Feeling like gods. The problem was knowing that none of it was real. Eventually, it just became impossible for me to live like that.

"And what about for her?"

"She had locked something away, something deep inside her. A truth that she had once known, but chose to forget. Limbo became her reality."

"What happened when you woke up?"

"Well, to wake up from that after years, after decades…to become old souls thrown back into youth like that? I knew something was wrong with her. She just wouldn't admit it. Eventually, she told me the truth. She was possessed by an idea. This one very simple idea that changed everything. That our world wasn't real. That she needed to wake up to come back to reality, that in order to get back home…we had to kill ourselves."

"What about your children?"

"She thought they were projections. That our real children were waiting for us up there somewhere. She was certain there was nothing I could do, no matter how much I begged, no matter how much I pleaded. She wanted to do it, but she could not do it alone. She loved me too much so…she came up with a plan on our anniversary."

Cobb silenced for a second, lost in the memory.

"What happened?" Christi asked cautiously.

"She went out on the ledge and prepared to jump. She told me that she had filed a letter with her attorney saying that I threatened to kill her so that I wouldn't have to choose between her and our children. And then she jumped."

"Oh my gosh," Christi said under her breath. She could never imagine the horrid experience of watching something so awful.

"She had herself declared sane by three different psychiatrists. That made it impossible for me to try to explain the nature of her madness. So, I ran. I left my children behind and I've been trying to buy my way back ever since."

"Your guilt defines her," Ariadne said firmly to him. "It's what powers her. But you are not responsible for the idea that destroyed her. And if we are gonna succeed in this, you have to forgive yourself. And you're gonna have to confront her. But you don't have to do that alone."

"No, you're not—"

"I'm doing it for the others. Because they have no idea the risk they've taken coming down here with you."

Cobb looked up and out the window in front of them. Several of Fischer's projections were scouting the roof with their guns, looking for the team members.

"We have to move," he ordered. He and Arthur put their masks back on and went back to where Fischer and Eames/Browning were.

After some time, they came back out with both of the hostages' heads covered in burlap sacks. Arthur and Cobb threw the two men into the van and Arthur climbed in after them.

"We're worth more to you alive. You hear me?" Fischer said desperately.

Arthur used a drug to knock out Fischer while Eames, having changed back into himself, came back out and whipped the bag off his head.

"What'd you get?" Cobb asked him.

"That boy's relationship with his father is even worse than we imagined," Eames explained.

"This helps us how?" Arthur asked.

"The stronger the issues, the more powerful the catharsis," Cobb explained.

"How are you gonna reconcile them if they're so estranged?"

"Well, I'm working on that, aren't I?" Eames said to Arthur sharply.

"Work faster. The projections are closing in quick. We gotta break out of here before we're totally boxed in."

Arthur took a gun and began shooting at the projections on the roof. Meanwhile, Yusuf and Cobb took Saito and carefully put him in the van. Ariadne hopped into the car with them while Christi just awkwardly stood by the van, waiting for someone to tell her what was going on and what she should do.

She watched Arthur shoot out the window several times, having little success each time. Several projections shot back at him after his attempts failed. Eames walked up next to him.

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."

He loaded his much bigger gun and shot down the projection with one shot. Arthur raised his eyebrows in surprise. Christi couldn't stop the small smile that appeared on her face. Then he came back over to Christi and took her arm.

"Let's go, love. Sit in the passenger seat up front."

Christi quickly hopped in behind everyone else, and Yusuf took off out of the warehouse. Everyone began grabbing wires from the PASIV device sitting between Yusuf and Christi. Unsure of how to hook herself up, she waited to see if they would even take her down to the next level.

"Christi, give me your arm," Arthur ordered.

While Eames hooked up Fischer in the backseat, Arthur got Christi hooked up and she realized then that she was indeed continuing on. She was rather grateful for that, not wanting to be stuck here with everyone else unconscious and her still confused about what to do.

"Now, we need to shift his animosity from his father to his godfather," Cobb announced.

"You're gonna destroy his one positive relationship?" Ariadne asked.

"No, we'll repair his relationship with his father by exposing his godfather's true nature," Eames explained. "We should charge Fischer a lot more than Saito for this job."

"What about his security? It's gonna get worse as we go deeper," Arthur said.

"No, I think we run with Mr. Charles," Cobb told him.

"No."

"Who's Mr. Charles?" Eames asked.

"Bad idea."

"The second we get into that hotel and approach Fischer, his security's gonna be all over us," Cobb added. "We run with Mr. Charles like we did on the Stein job."

"So, you've done it before?" Eames said.

"Yeah, and it didn't work," Arthur told him bluntly. "The subject realized he was dreaming and his subconscious tore us to pieces."

"Excellent. But you learned a lot, right?"

Christi smiled a little in the front seat. She was loving Eames's sarcastic and witty comments. It was almost comical how much he and Arthur didn't seem to get along. They were complete polar opposites, and she was sure that made room for some very interesting confrontations.

"I need some kind of distraction," Cobb continued.

"No problem," Eames smiled. "How about a lovely lady that I've used before?"

Cobb leaned up to the driver. "Listen to me. You drive carefully, alright? Everything down there is gonna be extremely unstable."

"Don't jump too soon," Arthur said. "We only got one shot at that kick. We gotta make it."

"I'll play the music to let you know it's coming," Yusuf told everyone. "The rest is on you. Are you ready?"

"Ready!" Cobb yelled.

"Sweet dreams."

Yusuf pressed the button on the PASIV and everyone blacked out immediately.


	6. Second Dream

The next thing Christi knew, she was in a fancy restaurant in what appeared to be a hotel. It took a few seconds, but she was able to recall what was going on and why she was here. Her hair was pulled back on the sides and pinned to the back of her head, leaving her part intact. She was now wearing a fancy purple dress that reached just above her knees. The lacey, see-through sleeves went just to the middle of her forearms.

She looked around her for any familiar face, and saw Fischer sitting at the bar with some blonde woman sitting next to him.

Before long, Cobb came in and joined them.

"Mr. Fischer, right?" he said, playing dumb for the man. He held out his hand for Fischer to shake. "Pleasure to see you again. Rod Green from Marketing. I…" When he realized Fischer was not making any move to shake his hand back, he awkwardly put it down.

Did Robert Fischer really have to be so rude? Christi knew that he had a strained relationship with his father, but even still…

Cobb turned to the woman. "And you must be?"

"Leaving," she answered shortly. She wrote down something on a napkin, probably her number, and whispered something into Fischer's ear. Then she walked away, passing where Christi was sitting on the way.

"It's me. Come on," she said in a hushed tone.

Recalling what Eames said back in the van, she was shocked to realize that the blonde woman was in fact Eames!

Christi hesitantly took the woman's outstretched hand and they began walking to the elevator.

When they walked through the lobby, Christi saw Ariadne and Arthur sitting on a couch on the stairs. She began to look up at them, but Eames whispered to her, "Don't make eye contact."

"Why not?"

"We're being followed. Don't turn around. Just walk with confidence."

Christi obeyed his request and they walked to an elevator just as it opened. Saito was about to get out, but Eames pushed him back into the elevator and closed the doors before whoever was tailing them could get in.

"Mr. Saito, can I have a moment?" Eames in woman form said seductively, putting his hand on Saito's cheek.

"I'm sorry, but…"

Before their eyes, Eames changed from the blonde woman back into himself.

"You look a bit perkier," Eames joked.

"Very amusing, Mr. Eames," Saito said dryly.

Christi wanted to know how to do what Eames did. She was a complete amateur, unable to control when and how she changed her appearance. After seeing him do it twice and knowing she had that same power in her, she wanted to be able to do it too.

Eames looked through the wallet he had swiped off Fischer and saw the same picture in it of the boy and the pinwheel.

The elevator shook a little, but neither of them seemed alarmed.

"Turbulence on the plane?" Saito asked.

"No, that's much closer," Eames answered. "It's Yusuf's driving." They rode in silence on the elevator before he continued, "Get out on a different floor, keep moving. Dump the wallet. Security will look for that."

"Okay."

He looked at Christi. "You stay with me." The elevator door opened and he and Christi stepped out. He turned back to face Saito. "We need to buy Cobb a little more time." Once they were off the elevator and walking down the hall, Eames looked at Christi once more. "Here's something really important. What's something you own that you carry on your person no matter what? Never leave the house without it."

Christi thought for a second. "Um…my necklace, I guess. My parents gave it to me before they…"

She trailed off, and while Eames wanted to know what she was going to say, he decided it best not to pry.

"Fine. That's going to be your totem."

"My what?"

"A totem is a small object with a difference that only you know. It helps you determine if you're dreaming or not so you don't lose touch with reality. Look at your necklace, and figure out what's different about it."

Christi took the small object in her hand and examined it. It took a little bit of time, but eventually she noticed that the design was reversed.

"It's—"

"No, don't tell me. Only you can know what the difference is. No one else."

"Why?"

"If someone else knows the secret of your totem, they can tamper with it and make you lose focus on what's real and what's a dream."

"What's your object?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a red circular disc. "This."

Christi almost laughed when she realized he was holding a poker chip. "You're a poker fan?"

"Very much so."

"Are you good?"

"That depends on your point of view."

Christi smiled and he smiled back at her. Why did it feel like she was getting butterflies in her stomach?

"I apologize for you getting caught up in all of this," Eames continued.

"You know…I have to admit, it's all kinda cool. Especially seeing you change your entire appearance like you have been."

"It takes practice. More so if you're impersonating someone close to the subject, like when I changed to Browning. I had to study his mannerisms, the way he talked, the kind of words he used, and all of that for weeks."

"How did you even find this kind of job?"

"It's all about connections. Who you know and what you do. I suppose it was Cobb who first introduced me to dream-sharing. Didn't take long for me to become a forger."

"So what is everyone else's job?"

"Cobb is our extractor. He gets the information out of the subject's head, or in this case, plants it. Arthur is the point man who researches all the details about our subject so we're more prepared when we enter his mind. Yusuf is the chemist who makes the sedatives needed for us to go down this deep into his mind and still keep everything stable. And your friend, Ariadne, is the architect. She designs the dreams."

Christi sighed. "This is all so confusing."

"It gets easier the more jobs you take on and the more you practice."

"I suppose. I guess it's the same with me and nursing."

"What made you want to be a nurse?"

Christi's words caught in her throat. "It's…kind of a long story."

"I've got time."

"Maybe later."

"Some other time then."

She just nodded, but didn't say anything in response. Eames took notice of her awkward pause, and was now even more curious as to what she was trying to hide from him.

"So, um…what's the plan now?" Christi asked, trying to get off the uncomfortable subject.

"We do anything we can to buy Cobb some more time to get Fischer on our side and get him to trust us…without the projections killing us. I believe this would be an excellent time to teach you how to forge."


	7. Learning to Forge

"Pardon?"

"It'll help draw the projections off Cobb." He led her into one of the hotel rooms which for all intents and purposes was empty. "Now focus. Close your eyes." Christi, admittedly wanting to know how to do what he did, decided to humor him. "Picture what you want to look like and who you want to become. Now allow yourself to become that person. Breathe deeply and focus only on that person."

Christi calmed herself down and pictured one of her old friends from high school. Focusing on that image, she poured every muscle in her body into becoming her.

"Very good."

Christi opened her eyes and examined her new look in the room's mirror. She now had brown hair that was hanging above her shoulders and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

"Forging is all about control," Eames explained. "If you lose control, you'll lose your appearance too. You could change right in front of a projection and give us all away in seconds, which you almost did on the last level. If we had been outside when you changed, you could've been killed. You need to learn to channel your emotions so that doesn't happen anymore. With some practice, control is easier to gain."

Christi's head was spinning. This was a lot for her to take in at one time. Her mind was still trying to process the fact that they were all actually dreaming.

Eames took her arm and led her out of the room.

"Now, see that man over there?" he said, pointing to a man at the end of the hall. "He's looking for Cobb. Do your best to distract him. If you're successful, he may believe you're just a projection as well."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"However you possibly can."

Christi nervously walked to the man. He put his hand on his gun, which made her heart start hammering in her chest, but she forced herself to relax as she smiled at him.

"Hey," she said with a hint of seductiveness in her tone. "What's a big strong man like you doing out here all alone?" She walked a little closer to him as he slowly took his hand away from the gun. "You work too hard." She put her arms on his shoulders. "You know what I think? I think you should take a little rest." Quick as lightning, Christi slammed the edge of her hand on his neck right below his ear, causing him to crumple to the ground.

" _What_ did you do?" Eames exclaimed running up to her.

"I took self-defense classes in college. They taught us a move like that that could cause blackouts in a second or even death if the hit is done hard enough. I have to admit, I've always wanted to do it, and I figured if he's just a projection, then he's not even real and so it doesn't matter."

"I have to hand it to you, Christi. You picked up forging quite fast."

"Thanks."

"Now you have to change back which is a heck of a lot easier. Close your eyes again and focus. Focus on becoming you again."

Christi repeated the process and found that she was able to change back into herself within a couple seconds.

"Good. Now come on, we should head downstairs and see if we can find the projection of Browning."

He took her arm again and they began making their way downstairs.

Christi's heart was pounding. She had no idea how exhilarating it was to be able to forge like she had just done. Sure, she had changed appearances in her dreams countless times, but actually controlling it was something else entirely. She loved it!

"That was incredible," she remarked as she and Eames made their way down to the lobby.

"You're a natural. I've never known anyone who was a natural forger. But you're not an expert. You only know how to change your appearance, but you still need to gain control and practice mimicking an actual person. That will take a lot of practice."

"Well, being able to control who I turned into and what I looked like was…unreal."

"Yes, it was."

The two of them laughed together at his little joke. There were those butterflies again…

She and Eames finally made it to the lobby and when they rounded the corner, they saw Saito talking with the projection of Browning, clearly thinking it was Eames. Eames frantically waved his hand across his neck to get Saito to stop talking to the projection.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Saito said quickly to Browning. "I mistook you for a friend."

"Oh. Good looking fella, I'm sure," Browning smiled as he walked away.

Christi rolled her eyes. Men.

"No, no, no. That's Fischer's projection of Browning," Eames explained as he and Christi walked up to Saito. "Let's follow him and see how he behaves."

"Why?" Saito asked.

"Because how he acts will tell us if Fischer is starting to suspect his motives the way we want him to."

The three of them followed Browning up to the hotel room where everyone else had gone to set up for the next layer.

When they walked in, Arthur had a gun to Browning's head and Cobb was quietly speaking to Fischer, explaining as much as he could. Eames held Browning down while Arthur administered a drug to knock him out.

"I need you to do the same thing to him that he was going to do to you," Cobb said to Fischer. "We'll enter his subconscious and find out what he doesn't want you to know."

Fischer looked at Cobb for a second, then pulled up his shirt sleeve. "Alright."

Cobb made him sit on the bed and proceeded to give him a drug to knock him out as well. Once the drug took effect, Cobb gently rested him down on the bed.

"He's out," Cobb confirmed.

"Wait, whose subconscious are we going into exactly?" Ariadne asked.

"We're going into Fischer's. I told him it was Browning's so he'd come be a part of our team."

"He's gonna help us break into his own subconscious," Arthur put together.

"That's right."

Eames took Christi's arm and they both lied down on the floor together in front of the hotel bed. Strangely enough, Christi didn't feel very uncomfortable. In fact, it was the complete opposite. She felt…protected almost. Like she didn't have anything to worry about as long as Eames was next to her.

"Security's gonna run you down hard," Eames said to Arthur as he prepared to hook them up to the PASIV.

"And I will lead them on a merry chase," Arthur smiled.

"Just be back before the kick."

"Go to sleep, Mr. Eames."

Christi smiled to herself as she listened to their banter again. It was quite enjoyable to witness.

Just before Arthur pushed the button on the PASIV device, Christi felt Eames's hand intertwine with her own.


	8. Third Dream

Christi opened her eyes and she found herself on a snowcapped mountain. Her black hair was tied into a side braid that hung over her right shoulder and she, along with the rest of the team, were dressed in white snowsuits.

"Come on, love," Eames said, his presence startling her. "Almost finished."

She followed him across the mountain to where the others were grouped.

"Eames, this is your dream," Cobb said. "I need you to draw the security away from the complex, you understand?"

"Who guides Fischer in?" Eames asked.

"Not me. If I know the route, everything could be compromised."

"I designed the place," Ariadne put in.

"No, you're with me."

"I could do it," Saito told him.

"Alright." Cobb turned to Eames. "You brief him on the route into the complex. Fischer, you'll be going with him."

"Alright," Fischer complied. "What about you?"

"You keep this live," he said, referring to his two-way radio. "I'll be listening in the whole time. The windows on that upper floor are big enough for me to cover you from that south tower. You see it?"

"Yes. You're not coming in?"

"In order to find out the truth about your father, you're gonna need to break into Browning's mind on your own."

While Eames explained to Saito how to get into the hospital building Ariadne had designed, Saito began coughing violently. Small droplets of blood fell from his mouth onto the white snow, sharply appearing due to the contrasting color.

"Can you do anything for him?" Eames quietly asked Christi.

"I wish I could, but I was never taught on what to do if someone's injured in a dream state, much less three layers in."

Both men sighed heavily, but didn't blame the girl in any way. There just wasn't anything more they could do for him.

"Come, Fischer!" Saito called. He and Robert started skiing down the mountain and towards the complex.

"Let me guess," Christi said to Eames. "I'll be with you?"

"Glad to see you're catching on," Eames smiled.

The both of them skied away from the others and headed towards the complex themselves.

"So, Christi, tell me," Eames said as they slowly made their way down the mountain. "Why did you want to be a nurse?"

"This isn't exactly the right time for that," she said giving him a pointed look.

"Will there ever be?"

"I told you," she mumbled. "It's a long story."

"Does it have to do with your parents?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Just tell me."

"I don't have to tell you anything."

Eames stopped his skis and looked at her. "What are you hiding, Christi?"

"It's none of your business!" she said loudly. She was starting to get really frustrated with his prying. Why was he so determined to find out about her life? Hadn't she made it clear enough before that she wasn't interested in sharing?

"Why is it so hard for you to talk about? What could be so bad?"

"You don't understand!"

"And I never will unless you just tell me!"

"It was a fire!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She sighed as he silenced at her sudden outburst. "They died in a fire," she said quieter. "It was when I was in college. They both were caught in a fire while I was away at school."

There was a deafening silence between them while Eames attempted to process what she had just said to him.

"That necklace was a gift from them?" he finally asked her.

"Yeah," she answered as she fingered the stone attached to the black thread. "The symbol means 'forever' in Arabic. They bought it for me when they went to Egypt and gave it to me as a graduation present. It was supposed to show that no matter where I went or what I did, they would be with me forever. But they lied. They left me alone."

Eames looked at her sadly. "You're not alone, Christi. You have Ariadne and your friends at school. Your parents are always going to be with you through your memories of them. But you have to stop blocking them out, or you will lose them."

Christi looked at Eames and realized that…he was right. She had shut out thoughts about her parents and as a result, it wasn't just the fire that had taken them from her. It was her own selfish behavior.

She tried to find words, anything to defend herself, but nothing came.

"And…you have me."

Christi looked up at him to find him looking back at her with…affection it looked like. Affection? Hadn't they just met? Wasn't this all a dream? Why were butterflies in her stomach again?

"You know, for what it's worth," Eames continued, "during that little outburst, you didn't once lose control of your appearance."

Eames began skiing down the mountain again, and Christi smiled a little as she followed him, thinking about what he said.

Once they were close to the complex, Eames took a flare and shot it up in the sky so it went right over the building. All the people who were guarding the place hopped into tanks and other vehicles to try to go after those who were invading in the dream.

Eames led Christi to a safer location where they could hide for a while until the projections came after them.

"So it's because of your parents you wanted to become a nurse?" Eames asked her.

She smiled sadly and nodded a little. "Yeah. I wanted to make it so that people don't lose their parents before their time. Like I did."

"How have you been doing so far?"

"Well, so far, I've been able to observe several operations and shadow a few times in a real hospital. It won't be too much longer before I'm officially certified."

"You're on a much better career path than I am."

Christi was about to say something, but she suddenly thought for sure she heard music playing. "Is that…music?" she asked Eames.

"Unfortunately, yes." He turned on the mike he was hooked up to. "Cobb, do you hear that? I first noticed it about twenty minutes ago. I thought it was the wind up here."

"Yeah, I hear it," Cobb responded. "It's music."

"So what do we do?"

"We move fast."

A tank drove by their hiding place and while it passed by them at first, it reversed until they were in sight again. Then the projection on top started firing the tank's machine gun at them.

"Time to go!" Eames said as he pulled Christi away from the gunfire. "Hope you can ski well!"

The tank along with several projections on skis came after them as they started sliding down the steep slope.

"Christi!" Eames yelled. "No matter what, keep going down the slope! Do not worry about me! I'll take care of them!"

"If you say so!"

Christi slid down the slope as fast as she could while Eames took out as many projections as possible.

He threw a rope around a tree which caused several projections to slide right into it, practically slicing them down the middle when they slid into it with such force.

When Christi realized that he had stopped the projections, she forced herself to stop as well. A thunderous noise caused them to look up. She saw a huge avalanche sliding down the side of the mountain. Eames grabbed Christi around the waist and flung her over to where they were out of its path. They managed to only get hit with a little snow and the wind that resulted from it.

"Are you alright?" Eames asked Christi once the avalanche had passed.

"I'm fine, I guess," she answered.

Eames turned on his mike again. "Cobb! Cobb, did we miss it?"

"Yeah, we missed it," Cobb replied.

"Well, what do we do now?"

"We finish the job before the next kick."

"What next kick?"

"When the van hits the water."

Eames and Christi looked at the projections from their hidden perch.

"Run! Turn around!" the one on top of the tank shouted to the others. "Move to base! Move to base! Go, go, go!"

"There's something wrong," Eames said into his mike. "They're heading your way like they know something."

"Just buy us more time, alright?" Cobb said.

"On our way." Eames stood up and went after the projections. He turned to Christi. "Stay right here and wait for me."

She nodded as he took off his skis. While she watched, she took off hers as well and deposited them into the snow. Eames took his skis and rammed one of the projections. Then he climbed onto the snowmobile another was driving and forced him off it, taking control of it himself. He then steered it back towards Christi. He came towards her and he didn't show any signs of slowing down.

"Give me your hand!" he yelled.

She held her hand out and he skillfully grabbed it and flung her up on the snowmobile behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he drove up to the complex where the rest of the team was headed.

As they approached the other projections, Eames started driving with one hand while his other hand took out his gun and started shooting the projections. Then he stood up, forcing Christi to stand up as well so she could still hold onto him, and drove through the rope attached to the tank that all the projections were holding onto. This caused them all to fall and start sliding down the slope. Eames then drove up beside the tank and tossed an explosive to the projection on top. Passing by, he gave him a thumbs-up, and the tank exploded behind them.

"Doing alright?" he threw back to Christi.

"Just get us up there!"

Eames kept driving up to the complex, Christi still latched onto his waist.

"Eames!" Ariadne's voice said over his mike. "Eames, get to the antechamber now!"

"Is something wrong?" Christi yelled to him.

"Probably!" he said back. "We're going to have to jump!"

"Are you nuts?!"

"Tuck and roll! One, two, three!"

Together, they both jumped off the moving snowmobile right in front of the complex. Eames ran over to her and quickly helped her up.

"Wasn't so bad, was it?"

He took her hand and they ran over to the secret entrance where Fischer and Saito had gone in. Once they made it inside, they had to climb up a ladder to make it up to where the others where. Eames made Christi go ahead of him and when they both were up, they saw Saito on the ground coughing even more violently than before. Eames gently shook his head, trying to keep him alive. He and Christi kept going and got to the bigger room to find two bodies lying motionless on the ground: Fischer and a woman Christi didn't know. Eames ran and grabbed an emergency defibrillator off the wall. Then he ran over to Fischer and began to undo his snowsuit so he could get to his chest.

"What happened?" he asked as Ariadne and Cobb walked in.

"Mal killed Fischer," Ariadne told him.

So this strange woman was Cobb's wife. Or at least a projection of her anyway.

"I couldn't shoot her," Cobb said numbly. He looked at Eames trying to put the defibrillator paddles onto Robert. "There's no use in reviving him. His mind's already trapped down there. It's all over."


	9. Kicks

Eames stopped putting the pads on Fischer and looked up at him. "So that's it, then? We failed?"

"We're done. I'm sorry."

"Well, it's not me that doesn't get back to my family, is it? Shame, I really wanted to know what was going to happen in there. I swear we had this one."

"No, that's not possible," Christi said. "It can't just be over. We were so close. We can't have failed now."

"I'm sorry, Christi," Cobb said to her. "I didn't mean to bring you with us all this way for nothing."

Christi was honestly extremely surprised that she felt so upset about this whole thing failing. It wasn't just because she had been dragged into this completely against her will by being kidnapped, sedated, and drugged. She had become invested in the whole operation despite it all and was disappointed that it hadn't worked out. Especially when they were so painstakingly close.

Cobb went over to Eames. "Let's set the charges."

"No, there's still another way," Ariadne announced. "We just have to follow Fischer down there."

"Not enough time," Eames told her.

"No, but there will be enough time down there. And we will find him. Okay, as soon as Arthur's music kicks in, just use the defibrillator to revive him. We can give him his own kick down below. Look, you get him in there. As soon as the music ends, you blow up the hospital, and we all ride the kick back up the layers."

"No," Christi said. "Ari, that's too dangerous."

"Don't worry about me, we can do this."

"It's worth a shot," Eames said. "If Saito can hold the guards off while I set the charges."

"Saito will never make it, will he?" Cobb asked.

Eames begrudgingly shook his head.

"Cobb, come on! We gotta try this," Ariadne pleaded.

"Go for it!" Eames said as he handed Cobb a PASIV device. "If you are not back before the kick, I am gone with or without you."

"She's right," Cobb mumbled. "She's right. Come on, let's go."

Cobb grabbed the PASIV and he and Ariadne began to take off their bags and went over to enter yet another layer deeper.

"Ari, wait!" Christi called. "Please be careful."

"I will. Thanks for being so cool with all of this. I'm sorry you got thrown into the middle of it all."

"Don't worry about it. Just focus on getting back safely."

"I'll see you back in the van."

The two girls hugged tightly, neither knowing just what exactly was going to happen in the next few minutes.

Cobb and Ariadne started up the PASIV and Christi could only wonder where their minds were now.

"Christi!" Eames called. She looked over and found him trying to get Saito into the room. Running over to him, she slipped one of Saito's arms over her shoulders and helped Eames get him into the room.

"Saito. Saito," Eames said, lightly slapping his cheek. "I need you to take care of Fischer while I go set some charges, okay?" He handed him a gun and a grenade.

"No room for tourists on these jobs," Saito said with a weak smile.

"Don't be silly." He stood up and looked at Christi. "You stay with Fischer and try to get him up with the defibrillator. Protect him and the others."

"I will. Be careful now."

"Always am."

Eames took off outside the complex to set the explosives for the kick. Meanwhile, Christi went next to Fischer and turned on the defibrillator after making sure the pads were appropriately placed.

Commotion from the vent where she and Eames had come out caused her to stop what she was doing. Gunshots rang out and threatened to hit her. Saito attempted to shoot back, but his attempts to do so were stopped by the pain he was experiencing.

Needing some way to defend herself, she ran over to the unconscious Cobb and grabbed his handgun from him. Then she ran back over to Fischer's body, and when she saw a white snowsuit in the vent, she pulled back the hammer and shot several of the projections.

Saito took the pin off the grenade and threw it down the shaft where a fiery explosion released, killing all the projections inside.

Christi ran over to him as his body became still. "Saito?" she said urgently. She pressed her fingers to his neck, but found no pulse. She sighed heavily and slowly ran her hand down her face.

Hearing explosions and gunfire, she peeked outside and saw Eames getting attacked by a projection. His gun wasn't with him, and he looked like he was losing the fight. She ran to one of the open windows and aimed her gun at the projection. Using skill she wasn't even aware she possessed, she managed to successfully shoot and kill the projection. Eames retrieved his gun and looked up from where the shot had come from to find Christi with a gun in her hand. He sent her a small nod and she returned the action.

She went back over to Fischer and started to pump up the defibrillator. It wasn't too much longer before Eames came back into the room. She saw him glance over at Saito.

"He's gone," Christi said quietly.

Music started to play once more.

"That means the kick is coming. Get him going," Eames demanded, going next to Fischer.

She nodded and checked the pads once more to make sure they were still correct. Finding that they were, she pushed the button on the machine and Fischer's body convulsed as a wave of electricity shot through him.

No response.

She pushed the button again, but still nothing.

With one more push of the button, Fischer gasped and sprang up. Christi smiled a little at Eames as Cobb and Ariadne appeared to be successful.

"In there, now!" Eames said, helping Fischer to his feet. "Go, go, go!"

Christi and Eames made eye contact. Perhaps the mission was going to be a success after all.

Christi looked over at Cobb and Ariadne. Both were still unconscious. "Shouldn't they be awake by now?" she asked Eames.

"It's not that simple, darling."

They watched as Fischer went over to the double doors, punched in a security code, and then entered the room where his sick father lay in his hospital bed. The doors closed behind him, separating him from Christi and Eames.

Eames got himself and Christi up off the floor and went over to the entrance where he entered the same security code, allowing them to see Fischer. He was kneeling by his father's bedside, looking emotionally upset.

His father weakly pointed to the safe next to his bed. Fischer slowly went over to it and entered in the combination.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Eames whispered next to her.

Christi looked at him and then back at father and son as she nervously bit her lip. Fischer opened the safe and whatever he saw made them achieve their goal for he grasped his father's hand in both of his and began sobbing for him.

Christi looked back at Eames and smiled. Their mission had been a success.

She didn't really know what possessed her to do so, but she took Eames's head in her hands and kissed him passionately.

She released him and they both smiled awkwardly at each other.

Their heads turned when they realized the song that was playing had ended.

"Time to go," he said.

"What about Cobb and Ari?"

"They'll be fine."

He pushed the button that caused the charges he had set to explode and the whole complex began to crumble. Eames held his hand out for her and she smiled as she grasped it with her own and they began to fall.

Her eyes opened and she was in an elevator in the hotel. The elevator exploded and she opened her eyes again as the white van hit the water and everyone was submerged.

Fischer grabbed Eames/Browning and they both got up to the surface. Yusuf, Ariadne, Arthur, and Christi all remained in the van. A dead Saito was in the back and Cobb was buckled in, both of them in limbo now. Arthur grabbed an oxygen tank and he and Ariadne inhaled from it while Yusuf had another one in the front. Christi took a breath of oxygen from one of the tanks and started to follow the others out of the van. However, her seatbelt was stuck and she couldn't unbuckle it. When she tried to just squeeze out of it, the whole thing was locked and couldn't loosen up without unbuckling the whole thing. Panic began to rise up in her. She couldn't get out!

On the surface, Eames looked around as he sat next to Fischer. "Where's Christi?" he murmured.

Not seeing her anywhere, he dove back into the water and swam down to the van. Christi was furiously fumbling with her seatbelt, appearing to be stuck in the seat. He swam over to her and got out his pocket knife. She looked surprised to see him as he began cutting away her restraints.

When she was finally free, he wrapped his arm around her waist and swam back up to the surface.

She broke free and took gulps of air, trying desperately to fill her emptied lungs. Eames swam over to the shore, Christi latched onto his waist. When he reached land, she crawled up the rocky beach, still coughing and deeply inhaling oxygen into her body.

"You alright, love?" he asked.

"I suppose," she gasped. "I'm alive anyway." She managed to get herself into a sitting position and looked over at him. "What will you do now?"

"Oh, head back to Mombasa, I suppose. Play cards a bit, wait until someone needs a forger."

"Mombasa, huh?" she laughed.

Eames waited for her to catch her breath, and then said, "So back there, before the kick…"

Christi laughed awkwardly. "Yeah…um, you know, I guess I just got caught up in the moment and I…"

There was a pregnant pause between them in which both were quite uncomfortable.

"Thomas," Eames finally said.

"What?"

"That's my first name. Thomas."

Christi smiled a little. "Morimizu. That's my last name."

The two of them looked at each other again as they sat on the shore. Eames gently put his hand on her cheek, feeling his fingers gently trace over her gorgeous soft skin. He drew her closer and closer until she felt their lips touching once more.

Christi could feel his fingers intertwine into her wet hair as he deepened the kiss with her. It was a moment neither of them would trade for the world.


	10. Christi and Eames

Christi's eyes opened and she found herself on a seat on the plane from before. She looked over at Eames and they made eye contact with each other. Christi began blushing furiously as she smiled and looked away from him. She saw with delight that everyone in the plane, including Cobb and Saito, were once again awake.

Her fingers started playing with her necklace. She looked down at the stone and saw that the design was back to its original form. She was back in reality.

The flight attendant walked over to her. "We'll be landing in about 20 minutes. Do you need immigration forms?"

"Um, I guess," Christi said, taking a form from her. She filled out the form and it wasn't long until the plane landed.

Saito made a call in order for Cobb to walk into the country a free man, and another one for Christi to be able to get on another plane to go home, seeing as she did not have anything with her from the time she had been kidnapped.

Christi and Ariadne got off together to get into the country and then go book another flight to get them back to Paris so they could return to their classes.

As she was about to go with Ariadne to find a flight, she felt a hand on her arm and turned to find Eames.

"Look, Christi," he began. "What happened while we were on the plane…we may have been in a dream, but what we felt was real."

"Eames…"

"You have serious potential to be a forger. And with your nursing skills, you could be extremely helpful if someone gets injured. You were incredible back there with Fischer and Saito."

"Look…all of this just…isn't my world. I don't want to be a forger, and I don't want to go inside people's dreams. I just want to get back to school in Paris, become a nurse, and forget that any of this ever happened. I'm sorry."

She briskly walked off before he could say anything more. Sure, she had feelings for the guy, but how was she supposed to act on them? They were from completely different worlds. He was some poker-playing forger, and she was a hard-working nursing student. How could it work?

As the two friends got their plane tickets for a flight to Paris, Ariadne noticed that Christi seemed really out of sorts.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Christi responded, though her tone suggested just the opposite.

Ariadne decided not to push the issue any further, but she was pretty concerned at her friend's attitude.

For the entire time they waited for the flight and during the flight itself, Christi barely said ten words to her.

As soon as the two girls got back to the apartment, Christi didn't even eat anything, but just went straight to her room and locked herself in.

Ariadne knew that the whole experience couldn't have been _that_ traumatizing. It had to have been something else and she had a pretty good idea of what it was.

For the next week, Ariadne basically lived with an anti-Christi. She was hardly ever in the apartment except to sleep. She was always out at classes or going for a run. In fact, she was running twice as much as she used to, and that was saying something. She would come back in beet red and dripping in sweat, then she would eat something, take a shower, and lock herself in her room.

She certainly wasn't the perky girl Ariadne was used to living with. It was extremely worrying.

If this was how Ariadne acted after she found out about the whole job to begin with, it was no wonder Christi was worried about her. This had to stop.

"Christi," Ariadne said, grabbing her by the arm when she came back from her daily run. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," she said shortly.

"We both know that's not true. It wouldn't have anything to do with Eames, now would it?"

Christi sighed. "I never could keep anything from you."

The two girls sat down at their kitchen table.

"What happened between you two?" Ariadne asked her.

"To be honest…I'm not sure. I mean, I was with him the whole time we were under. He taught me how to forge properly and I told him about Mom and Dad. And we, uh…we kissed twice."

"You did what?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because we can't be together. It's not possible."

"Why not?"

"Because…we're just too different."

"What makes you different?"

"He plays poker for a living, and I'm studying to be a nurse."

"But you're both forgers. You're both fun to be around. You're both able to handle yourselves. And you both have feelings for each other."

"But…"

"What, Christi? Stop denying it. You have feelings for him and he has feelings for you. So what's the problem?"

"He's not part of the plan."

"Last time I checked, you can't plan in life. I didn't plan on studying Architecture in Paris so I could create dream layers to perform Inception. Life throws you curveballs and this is one of them." She smiled at her friend's silence. "Go find Eames. Tell him how you feel."

Christi thought a little then she sighed and smiled. "You win. I'm finishing up classes in a week, and then I'll be an official nurse. Then…I'll travel to Mombasa and see if I can find him. But if I'm going to find Eames, then you have to find Arthur."

"Excuse me?"

"You think I didn't see the chemistry between you two?"

"Well, he did kiss me…"

"What?! And you were getting on me for not telling you about _my_ kiss?!"

"Well, it was just a way of trying to get the projections to stop looking at us."

"Oh, sure it was. Arthur obviously has a thing for you. The deal is if I go find Eames, you have to find Arthur."

Ariadne sighed. "Fine. Deal."

* * *

Christi aced all of her final exams the next week and finally, after years of classes and tests, became a certified nurse. After a couple more days of getting her bearings straight, she bought a plane ticket to Mombasa.

The place was huge and crowded, and she had no idea how she was ever going to find Eames in such a large city. She now wished she'd talked to him more about where exactly he would spend all his time or at least specifically where he lived. Remembering that he played poker all the time, she started by looking in all the casinos, and asking around to see if anyone knew who she was talking about.

After several days of no luck, she was just about to call it quits.

But then her luck turned around.

"Excuse me," she said to the thousandth person in the city. "Do you know anyone who goes by the name Eames? He's usually found in casinos playing cards."

"Yeah, he just left out that door a couple minutes ago," the man said to her.

Christi's heart nearly stopped. Someone _finally_ actually knew who she was talking about? She raced out the door and attempted to follow his supposed path.

"Eames!" she called. "Thomas!"

"Christi?" a familiar voice said behind her.

She turned around and there he was, just a few feet away from her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you," she said to him. "About dreaming, about everything."

"Really?"

"I tried to forget it all, but…how could I forget what it's like to completely change my appearance and be able to control it? How could I forget someone who helped me face what happened with my parents and reminded me why I wanted to become a nurse in the first place? How can I forget…that kiss?"

"You can't."

"I don't want to anymore."

She ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck as her lips crashed onto his in a forceful yet loving kiss. When she released him, he gently pressed his forehead to hers.

"I fell for you from the first moment I saw you," he said quietly.

She smiled and kissed him again, cherishing the moment as much as she could.

"You were right. I could be useful as a forger and a nurse in the dream state."

"And I'll be there to teach you everything there is to know."

Hand in hand, Christi and Eames set off to prepare for the next dream project, whenever it would be.


End file.
